Ah, the venerable London School of Economics. According to its web site, the elite social science institute was “set up to improve society and to ‘understand the causes of things.’” The LSE, continued the bulletin, “has always put engagement with the wider world at the heart of its mission.” What better way to accomplish that than by censoring free expression about sensitive topics? Here we have it, folks: an institution that prides itself on being on the cutting edge of all things modern — and devoted, what’s more, to understanding n”the causes of things — resurrects that icon of medievalism: a law against blasphemy!

Don’t believe me? Check it out here: “The London School of Economics [LSE] Student Union has passed a motion effectively making it impossible for students on campus to criticize Islam.”

Ouch...

I don't know why Roger's saying "ouch." From the sounds of it, the capitulation didn't hurt a bit.

Update: My poem for the skool:

Behold, the LS of EWhere it is as clear as can beThat Islam is what harks;In fact it's like Marx.And like Marxists brooks no blasphemy.

“This a tragedy that started with the mistreatment of the women themselves, continued through the lack of an appropriate response from those charged with providing assistance and, ultimately, resulted in their tragic deaths and no verdict will change that sad fact. Our thoughts today are with the victims of this shocking crime and with the remaining children who must be protected and provided with a safe and secure upbringing” said Ihsaan Gardee, Executive Director of the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN).

“By all accounts those convicted have been afforded due process and must now face the consequences of their actions. This case sends a clear message to would-be perpetrators that these kinds of abhorrent actions will not go unpunished.

In November 2011, CAIR-CAN and over 70 other Muslim and non-Muslim organizations, as well as dozens of Imams, scholars and community leaders issued a Call to Action to Eradicate Domestic Violence. The Call to Action reiterates in no uncertain terms that Canadian Muslims unequivocally condemn the notion of ‘honour killing’ or other gender-based violence as un-Islamic and un-Canadian.

“CAIR-CAN and its partners are intent on continuing the critical work of educating families and communities about the unacceptability of violence on every level, and alternative ways to resolve conflicts and prevent future tragedies. Ongoing and new projects and initiatives aimed at establishing and supporting existing social services providers with the necessary resources to address gender-based violence must be supported and promoted. These include white ribbon campaigns, workshops and community round tables and, most recently, the Family Honour Project launched by the Muslim Resource Centre for Social Support and Integration in London, Ontario which is modeled on the Chicago based anti-gang violence Ceasefire program.

“Despite this case being about people who identified themselves as Muslim, the statistics about gender-based violence tells us that no one religion, culture or ethnicity holds the exclusive franchise on this scourge and we are confident that our fellow citizens will recognize this and support the efforts being made by Canadian Muslims to tackle this important issue."...

One year ago, the US and Britain helped street protesters to overthrow president Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. Hailing the revolutionary tumult of the "Arab Spring" as the equivalent of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the West went on to help armed Libyan rebels remove president Muammar Gaddafi by military force.

This regional strategy was promoted even though it was obvious from the start that the people who were best organised to take advantage of any elections in the Arab world were Islamists of one stripe or another - religious extremists all, united by their hostility to the West.

And so it has proved. The Islamists are coming to power in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia, and in turn are being increasingly empowered elsewhere. In Libya, sickening atrocities, including the torture and killing of Gaddafi himself by a lynch mob, have been carried out by those brought to power with the assistance of British and US bombing raids.

Yet Western politicians are even now hymning the brave new dawn of democracy throughout the Muslim world. British Foreign Secretary William Hague conceded earlier this month that the regional violence and votes for Islamism were a "setback", but he insisted: "Greater freedom and democracy in the Middle East is an idea whose time has come."

And the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist organisation now in the ascendancy, which uses violence and political manipulation to advance its aim of world domination for Islam, is suddenly being hailed by Western leaders as the acme of moderation.

Yet in helping to get rid of Mubarak and Gaddafi, Britain and the US have managed the signal feat of ousting oppressive regimes that were at least helpful to the West, and replacing them with oppressive regimes that are acutely hostile to the West...

What gives with this stupifying blindness? I think T.S. Eliot nailed it years ago when he observed that "Humankind cannot bear very much reality."

A Palestinian mufti has called for violence against Jews, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is demanding Palestinian leaders disavow him and America's presidential race could be affected.

That could be the lead sentence of a news report from last week.

Or from 1946.

Sixty-five years ago, another Palestinian mufti, another Netanyahu and another American presidential race likewise intersected in an unexpected round of high-stakes Middle East politics and diplomacy...

In the wake of the Shafia verdict, Canada's elite media (the Ceeb, the Glib & Mewling) are frantically spinning the message that there's nothing to see here (save Canadians' "racism"), folks, so it's best to return a.s.a.p. to the land's Trudeapian multiculti default setting, the one the elites embrace so thoughtlessly and wholeheartedly.

Michael Coren and Jonathan Kay discuss my "bêteblanc" (I call it that since the sucker's white, not noir), our "human rights" mausoleum. In so doing they mention some of its inherent problems (that its construction costs have mushroomed and that it will never be self-financing; that it is creating friction between "victim groups"--Jews and Ukrainians, especially--as they vie for equal space for their mass atrocity; that a museum devoted to a concept--"human rights"-- and not a discrete historical event--the Holocaust of the American Civil War, say--is a difficult if not a dubious if not a next to impossible undertaking; that it's in Winnipeg, which, unlike, say, Paris, Washington and Jerusalem, is not a place people are drawn to for its museums). Alas, they fail to get to the crux of the matter: that we, the taxpayers, have wasted a colossal amount of our cash on an edifice that validates "human rights," a concept that used to mean something, but that in our time has become stripped of meaning, a peurile cliche that's been systematically hijacked and perverted by the power-hungry, the Zion-loathing and the deranged (categories which often tend to overlap).

A museum devoted to burnishing the reputation of "human rights" rackets around the world, including the odious UN "Human Rights" Council and our own petty and squalid domestic "human rights" Inquisitions? Other than, say, The Museum of the Arab Spring, can you think of a worse idea for a museum?

The Manitoba-based Islamic Social Services Association expressed concern over the crime.

“We accept and respect the justice system and we believe that the indicted were given a fair trial,” it said in a statement.

“Our thoughts, today, are with the victims of this heinous crime; may they rest in peace. We are also concerned for the remaining children and their future.

“We hope and pray that all stakeholders will come together to provide these children a safe, secure and spiritually compatible home.”

Others, however, deplore it:

Some Muslims were worried that the use of the term “honor killing” in the verdict could associate the heinous murder with their faith.

“I’m very upset about the fact that this was played out as “honor killing” and somewhat exotic and strange, instead of the fact that this is femicide, which is the killing of girls and women because men, our patriarchy, thinks that that is OK,” said Alia Hogben, president of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women.

“I feel very very sad. I'm sad for the deaths.”

Hogben said that using the term honor killing in the case did more harm than good.

“My concern is far greater and more deep,” she said.

“The use of the term honor killing was dreadful, utterly dreadful, and it shouldn't have been used.”

The Manitoba-based Islamic Social Services Association was also concerned.

“We are hopeful that Canadian Muslims and the Islamic faith will not be stigmatized, as a whole, for this crime.”

In Islam, there is no place for unjustifiable killing as the case in honor killing.

Even in case of capital punishment, only the government can apply the law through the judicial procedures.

And, of course, this being a piece from onIslam, the obligatory disclaimer shows up--

Though portrayed in the Western media as exhorted by Islam, honor killing is a cultural act and has nothing to do with the faith.

--as does this innacurary (which as far as I can tell appears in every onIslam report about Canada):

Muslims make around 2.8 percent of Canada's 32.8 million population, and Islam is the number one non-Christian faith in the Roman Catholic country.

Actually, here in Canada--as in all free, democratic nations--we take pains to separate church and state, so while Canada is home to many Roman Catholics, it is not a "Roman Catholic country." So whassup up with this constantly repeated claim? My hunch is that it's a function of onIslam (a Muslim Brotherhood affiliate) seeing Roman Catholics as Islam's biggest rival in the global religious sweepstakes.

In the three-month-long trial, Shafia testified, "My children did a lot of cruelty toward me," as he wept openly on the stand. He went on to say he believed his children "betrayed" him by dating and he did not hide his anger, saying a father would never expect that kind of behavior from this daughters.

In taking the stand, Shafia swore to tell the truth on the Quran and he again invoked the holy book to say Islam does not condone killing people to preserve a family's honor.

In a direct response to a question from prosecutor Laurie Lacelle, Shafia said, "To kill someone, you can't regain your respect and honor. Respected lady, you should know that. In our religion, a person who kills his wife or daughter, there is nothing more dishonorable. How is it possible that someone would do that to their children, respected lady?"

"You might do it," Lacelle calmly replied, "if you thought they were whores." Shafia had used that term in a conversation captured by wiretaps.

You also might do it if, as per the Koran's words, you believed these women were your chattel who were obliged to bend to your will.

an “Ecole Polytechnique” moment for many Canadian Muslims. A shocking wake-up call to the ugly reality of family violence rooted in the need to control women – ostensibly for the sake of family “honour”. Horrific details of dysfunction within the Shafia family, culminating with the murder of four women – have shaken many out of complacency.

Let's all hope it's not another "Ecole Polytechnique" moment--i.e. yet another occasion when we turn a blind eye to a crime the arose out of the morass of Islamic misogyny, but that was never recognized as such. To do that--to overlook the Islamic component of these crimes--would be to murder the four Shafia women and the women of the Montreal Massacre all over again.

was calling on this page for Canadians to honour their culture of human-rights by allowing burkas -- tents with small cage-holes -- to be worn by Muslim women wherever they chose, including in courts?

She seems to feel that one form of medieval, male dominating, oppression is better than another. Sheer confusion, schizophrenia, a joke, what ... ?

None of the above, I'd say. More like sheer calculation on her part and the ability to capitalize on the opportunity handed to her on a silver salver by Canada's newspaper of record to convey her message to the elite swathe of Canadians who comprise the paper's readership.Another reader has the effrontery to point out that Sheema has been a fierce advocate for Islamic law:

Why yes, yes she did. Kind of hard to square that with her current hand-wringing over Muslims' "Ecole Polytechnique moment." Speaking of which, someone else notices the problem with Sheema harnassing the Shafia trial to the Montreal Massacre:

This article was started with a reference to the murder of 14 women at at Ecole Polytechnique by Marc Lepine. Mr. Lepines real name was Gamil Gabar, who was raised by a muslim father and learned Muslim attitudes to women. The media couldn'act fast enough to bury that fact. That should have been the wakeup call to the Muslim community, as well as a wake up call for all Canadians who still buy into Pierre Truedeaus multicultural hell.

His real name was Gamil Gharbi, but close enough.

And finally, someone makes a good--albeit a terrifying--point:

Horrifyingly, this might actually just cause these Honour Murderers to take their daughter/wife to the old country for a vacation, and do it there.

Anyone gather the stats on women killed on family vacations in the old country?

Last April, Shalom Toronto reported, the program aired a gag which showed six “Muslims” lying in wait for motorists returning to their car in a parking lot, and then laying out prayer mats and kneeling to “pray” on them.

The gag showed the “prayer” taking a long time and preventing the motorists from exiting the parking lot. The motorists are shown reacting angrily to the “Muslim worshipers”.

After the worshipers leave the parking lot, the gag continues when a “policeman” appears and wishes to give the drivers a traffic ticket for having parked in the lot for longer than five minutes despite a sign explicitly prohibiting from doing so. The drivers try to explain that they were delayed because of the “worshipers”, but fail to convince the “officer”, until he finally reveals to them that the whole incident was a gag.

Shalom Toronto reported that the video was recently uploaded to YouTube with Arabic subtitles. The individual or individuals who uploaded the video complained that the gag offended Islam.

The clip was criticized by Muslims who accused the television program of deliberately humiliating Islam. The clip received 1,900 “dislikes” and one talkbacker even called to boycott the program. Another respondent claimed that the owner of channel which airs the program is probably Jewish, arguing that only Jews can make fun of Islam and Christianity. Certain angry users expressed their wishes that Allah will extract revenge and curse those behind the gag.

In contrast, other respondents made claims against Islam for carrying out acts of terrorism which murdered thousands of people, and criticized Muslims for their inability to deal with humor. Some people who identified themselves as Muslims said they actually liked the gag and did not see it as causing any damage or harm to Islam.

(Reuters) - Leaders of the Arab Spring sought to assure the world's elite in Davos that the rise of political Islam is not a threat to democracy, and pleaded for help creating jobs and satisfying the hunger of their people for a better life.

Politicians, activists and entrepreneurs from countries that have cast off dictators and held free elections in the last 12 months were prized guests at the World Economic Forum, where they asked for patience, understanding and investment.

The new prime ministers of Tunisia and Morocco, both chosen from Islamic parties, dismissed Western worries about a surge of political Islam across North Africa and sought to dispel the notion that the promise of last year's protests had faded.

"I do not believe the new regimes should be called political Islamist regimes. We must be careful with our terminology... For the first time in the Arab world, we have free and honest elections that led to democratic regimes," Tunisian Prime Minister Hammadi Jebali told a Davos panel.

Twelve months ago, stunned Davos delegates watched live television images of crowds surging into Cairo's Tahrir Square in a political earthquake few had anticipated.

Arab officials and civil society activists urged Western executives and commentators not to demonize the Islamic movements that have gone from prison to parliament and the corridors of power in a year of stunning transformation.

"I would like to ask the businessmen in the room. Have you suffered from the victory of the Islamists? You supported the dictatorships in the past," Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane said.

"Today we can guarantee your interests more than they did in the past." ...

To translate from the Islamist: You owe us--big time--kafir, for doing business with our irreligious predecessors. If you know what's good for you (i.e. us) you will put up and shut up.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

The trio who plotted and executed the murders of the above-named individuals out of a pathologically misplaced sense of family "honour" (not unlike many who share their belief system, they were convinced it was situated in the dead chicks' vajayjays) are going to be put away for at least the next 25 years.

Call it a pure case of demand (for gender-segregated transportation) resulting in supply:

NORDERSTEDT, Germany – A German Muslim has introduced the country’s first Muslim taxi service through which Germans can arrange shared car rides of the same sex, The Local.de website reported on Friday, January 27.

“Many Muslim brothers and sisters complained that they can’t use conventional offers because the gender segregation stipulated by Islam is not implemented,” Selim Reid, a 24-year-old from Norderstedt, city of about 70,000 near Hamburg, told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper. The idea of the website, Muslimtaxi.de, was first introduced by Reid after a personal experience of his parents.

He said he was inspired to create the site because of Muslims’ bad ride-sharing experiences.

In 1996, his parents, who are originally from Iraq, caught a ride with a Muslim-hating driver who spent the whole time criticizing them.

“The driver and the people with him swore the whole way about foreigners in general and in particular about my mother’s head scarf,” Reid told the newspaper.

“He thought that my parents do not understand German,” he added...

I'm pretty sure what "inspired" him is the "gender segregation stipulated by Islam," but for PR purposes that story about his folks' ordeal puts a nice "victim" spin on things, don't you think?

Here's the Iran fan 'splaining how his "weak" landsmen are being "intimidated" and "bullied" by the U.S. and its allies, and how Iran's leaders are standing resolute in the face of such flagrant hostility:

If you're still awake after that riveting performance, here's Part II:

Yeah, because if only it would put the threat of nuclear annihilation at the hands of Mahdi-nutjobs aside for the moment, it could concentrate on "making peace" with Arab "moderates" whose fondest hope is Zion's demise.

THE Associated Press reported last week that Fidel Castro, the former president of Cuba, wrote an opinion piece on a Cuban Web site, following a Republican Party presidential candidates’ debate in Florida, in which he argued that the “selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalized and expansive empire is — and I mean this seriously — the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been.”

When Marxists are complaining that your party’s candidates are disconnected from today’s global realities, it’s generally not a good sign.

The dictator whose country is crumbling because of his idiocy and ignorance is trying to score points against men who are stalwart defenders of the free market? America may be in rough shape at the moment (in no small part because of a far leftist president who has kited the national debt and who, all in all, hasn't a clue about how the free market works), but even TLF, that sage of global economics, must admit it's no Cuba.

Update: I guess TLF didn't bother to consult Fidel re his assessment of Obama. When you want to make Republicans look bad, it's generally not a good sign if the former dictator/forever Commie you're citing is an equal opportunity basher of American political parties who has opined that a robot would do a better job in the White House than the Democrat who currently occupies it.

According to the New Republic, the suddenly optimistic Obama (buoyed by his own boundless self-regard, no doubt) was influenced by an NR piece asserting that American decline is a "myth." (This from a man who believes that Israel can and must negotiate a "peace" deal--a chimera if there ever was one.) But in these days of stratospheric national debt, and the spectre of another Obama term, American decline is, as Mark Steyn and one of the Penn boys might say (or sing), no myth.

"Social justice" is a hot button item for TDSB educators—or should I say indoctrinators?—these days. And, hey, who could complain about wanting the moppets to have more empathy for the suffering of the less fortunate around the globe so that, in an fit of Kielburgerian frenzy, they'll be motivated to "tikkun olam" (that's "repair the world" for those unfamiliar with tribal parlance). But guess what you often get when "social justice" becomes your core doctrine? In two words: hate Israel. The National Post's Kathyn Blaze Carlson explains how it works here:

Rachel Adelman’s Israeli son never clicked with the traditional education system, so when the family moved to Canada, she was drawn to an alternative public school that promised an intimate setting where students could express themselves freely; a school “based on the principles of participatory democracy and social equity,” as the school advertised itself.

She learned soon enough, though, that those promises of open-mindedness and equality “sounded nice,” but that the reality in the hallways would nearly cost her son his sense of self.

Eitan, then 17 years old and described by his mother as shy, came home from his first day at Toronto’s Student School in a “state of dismay,” his mother said.

“He said, ‘Ima [Hebrew for mother], the walls of the school are plastered with posters saying Israel: Apartheid State,’ ” said Professor Adelman, who now teaches at the Harvard Divinity School, referring to flyers mounted by a pro-Palestinian student club.

At the first all-school assembly, the students were shown Occupation 101, a controversial film that has been accused of portraying Israel as equivalent to Apartheid-era South Africa. Prof. Adelman said the school’s administrator defended the showing, saying the school had a policy of allowing students to voice their ideological bents. Two months later, Eitan switched schools.

But The Student School is just one of several Canadian schools that have moved “social justice” education onto the timetable. In launching nine alternative academies last week, one of this country’s boldest education directors touted “social justice” education as a way for children to gain social status and self-esteem. Proponents also say the approach teaches tolerance and respect for diversity — that it grooms socially conscious students prepared to fight against injustices they see in their communities...

"Social justice" education is a way to insert leftist cant/recieved wisdom/utter bollocks directly into the brains of impressionable young'uns. Period. The only "self-esteem" it boosts is that of the indoctrinators. And they're already so full of themselves, and so persuaded of their own virtuousness (and the wickedness of anyone who does not agree with them) that more "self-esteem" is about the last thing they need.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Here's a story designed to warm the cockles of your heart (whatever they are): a Chabad congregation in the Bronx that lacks its own premises has been invited to set up shop inside a mosque. And in case you think that this is a purely selfless act on the Muslims' part, and that there's no ulterior motive whatsoever, then you, my friend, unlike me, belong on the interfaithy tasty samosas circuit:

At first, it did not make sense, said Hana Kabakow, wife of Rabbi Meir Kabakow. “I was surprised,” said the 26-year-old congregant who was born and raised in Israel. “But when I came here I understood.” The Kabakows have been coming to the service from Brooklyn for the last two years.

Harriet Miller, another congregant, said she appreciated the center’s accommodating the synagogue. “They are very sweet people,” said the 79-year-old Bronx native and long-time resident of Parkchester, who added that she welcomes the new Muslim immigrants in her neighborhood: “We were not brought up to hate.”

Drammeh also understands the importance of teaching tolerance more broadly, and for turning the school—which was itself founded at the nearby St. Helena Catholic Church on, of all days, Sept. 11, 2001—into a model of sorts for religious tolerance in New York.

“We’re not as divided as the media portrays us to be,” Drammeh said. “Almost 90 percent of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian teachings are the same.”

Amid new strains in U.S.-Egypt ties, some in Washington are studying the tensions and results of recent voting for indications that democracy can take hold. Those who say the Muslim Brotherhood is showing new signs of moderation should compare its message to outsiders, in English, with its message to Egyptians and other Arabs, in Arabic.

Take the Brotherhood's official English and Arabic Web sites, IkhwanWeb (http://www.ikhwanweb.com/) and IkhwanOnline (http://www.ikhwanonline.com), from one day this month. In English, the home page featured no fewer than eight articles on the solicitude of the Brotherhood toward Egypt's Coptic Christian minority. The Arabic home page, by contrast, included just two small pieces on this theme. The contrast is sharper on other key issues. On democracy, the English home page one January day featured several articles with headlines such as "Why Islamists Are Better Democrats" and "Democracy: One of the Objectives of Shariah?" There was nothing comparable in Arabic. Instead, Arabic readers saw three pieces against freedom of the press, attacking two top independent Egyptian dailies for printing criticisms of the Brotherhood.

This kind of double talk is part of a pattern. Last February, right after Hosni Mubarak was overthrown, the Brotherhood published what it called an English-language version of Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie's message to the Egyptian people, celebrating their revolution. In that version, he supposedly spoke mainly of democracy, tolerance, pluralism and coexistence between Egypt's Muslims and Christians. But the text of his statement, published simultaneously in Arabic, had a totally different tone. In his authentic message, Badie wrote at great length on how Egypt's uprising was a blessing from Allah -- and how much Egyptians needed to stay firm in their Muslim faith to reap its real rewards. The following headlines on the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) led the English site in recent months: "FJP and Christians Stem Sedition," "FJP Denounces Attack on Israeli Embassy" and "FJP Women's Committee Provides Free Medical Services in Sharqiyyah City." But not one of those stories appeared on the Arabic home page. Throughout the past year, women often are referred to by the Brotherhood in English -- but almost never in Arabic. The same is true for the English and Arabic Web sites of the FJP, which now controls Egypt's parliament..

I have a relative who happens to be a pathological--and thus a serial--liar, so I've had lots of experience disbelieving fibs presented as the God's honest truth. Even so, every so often I still get taken in; it's exhausting keeping your guard up all the time, and one does so want to believe that this time, the person is telling the truth. If only I could come to accept about this relative what I know about the Muslim Brotherhood: that expecting this most self-serving of rackets to tell the truth is a recipe for heartbreak, disappointment and frustration, the triumph of hope over experience and reality.

A profile of John Mearshimer in The Atlantic seeks to rehabiliate the image of Harvard academic, tarnished when he went all nutty about "the Israel lobby" and its supposedly insidious influence on American foreign policy. Judge for yourself whether or not the effort is effective. (I say not.)

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has halted its work in detention centers in a Libyan city because it said its medical staff were being asked to patch up detainees mid-way through torture sessions so they could go back for more abuse.

Rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns about torture being used against people, many of them sub-Saharan Africans, suspected of having fought for Muammar Gaddafi's forces during Libya's nine-month civil war.

The agency said it was in Misrata, 200 km (130 miles) east of the Libyan capital and scene of some of the fiercest battles in the conflict, to treat war-wounded detainees but was instead having to treat fresh wounds from torture.

"Patients were brought to us in the middle of interrogation for medical care, in order to make them fit for more interrogation," MSF General Director Christopher Stokes said in a statement...

I so glad that "our" Libyans are much nicer/better/less barbaric than those "other" Libyans.

Al Jazeera's sympathetic coverage, in both Arabic and English, of the past year's Arab upheavals signaled to many that Americans may finally let the network in from the cold.[16] It was a view the Obama administration—eager to drain the bad blood of the Bush era—readily encouraged.

"Al Jazeera has been the leader in that they are literally changing people's minds and attitudes. And like it or hate it, it is really effective," Secretary of State Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in March. AJE, she said, is "must watch, real journalism."[17] Dana Shell Smith—the first deputy assistant secretary of state for international media engagement and an Arabic speaker—described Al Jazeera Arabic as a "really important media entity" with which the administration has a "really great relationship."[18]

The thaw has been bipartisan with Republicans as wary as Democrats of slighting a network riding a worldwide wave of popularity—AJE now reaches a quarter of a billion people in 130 countries[19]—and perceived as siding with freedom and democracy against dictatorship.[20]

"It's like Rip Van Winkle—you wake up and, my God, it's a different world," said Tony Burman, at the time AJE's chief strategic adviser for the Americas. "Hosni Mubarak did in eighteen days what I thought it would take two years to do." Walking through the State Department, Burman said, he sees his station playing on virtually every computer and television screen.[21]

Judea Pearl is a celebrated University of California computer scientist and cofounder of the Daniel Pearl Dialogue for Muslim-Jewish Understanding, created to honor his son, the Wall Street Journal reporter kidnapped and beheaded in 2002 by al-Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan.[22] Since 2007, Pearl has been a lonely voice on the left warning against Al Jazeera's legitimization. "Their unconditional support of Hamas's terror in Gaza, the Hezbollah takeover in Lebanon, and the Syrian and Iranian regimes betrays any illusion that democracy and human rights are on Al Jazeera's agenda"—he wrote this year—"weakening the West is their first priority."[23]

March Lynch, a commentator on Arabic media, accurately noted, "There has been a switch on the perception of Al Jazeera Arabic, simply because right now, the U.S. and Al Jazeera Arabic are more aligned in backing the democracy movements ... It's not like Al Jazeera or the U.S. have changed that much. The issues have changed."[24]...

No they haven't. The issues are the same--as are the players. It's still the same old Al Jazeera. It's still the same old Muslim Brotherhood. It's still the same old confounding gullibility of the ignorant, the lazy and the foolish.

And, oh yeah, it's still the same old Tony Burman, former Ceeb functionary, former A-J functionary, usefully idiotic now and forever.

Bruce Bawer discusses a new documentary that dissects our state broadcaster's die-hard bias against Israel and its passion for the leftists' favorite "victims," those lovable Palestinians:

Not only is the CBC systematically anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian. Its journalists introduce Israel and Palestine into stories that are utterly unrelated to Israel and Palestine, comparing aggressors with Israel and victims with Palestinians, the more firmly to fix in viewers’ minds the notion that Israelis are, indeed, the incarnation of evil and Palestinians as pure as the driven snow.

Responding to the silly-billy who wrote an article contending that since Gingrich isn't an Alinsky fan, he must be an anti-Semite, Jonathan Tobin invites liberal Jews whose understanding of conservativism hasn't advanced an iota since FDR to wake up and smell the Zionhass:

[T]he whole argument is based on a fallacious assumption that most conservatives are closet anti-Semites who will vote for a candidate if they believe they are, in their hearts, against the Jews. This is, of course, an article of faith for many Jewish liberals whose heads are stuck in the politics of the 1930s when conservatism was associated with anti-Semites like Father Coughlin. While the vestiges of that old conservatism carry on in the person of paleo-con outliers such as Pat Buchanan and radical right-wingers who now support Ron Paul because of his negative attitude toward Israel, the rest of the GOP is nothing like that. Indeed, its evangelical and social conservative grass roots are largely comprised of ardent philo-Semites.

Yes, but that's only because they want to convert us all to their Jesus religion. (That's me channeling the typical Jewish lefty.)

How's this for a gibungous conflict of interest? The same "unbiased" panel that's hearing all and sundry kvetch about the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline doled out moolah to some of eco-loonies--a number of them American--who are giving testimony that the panel is supposed to weigh when considering whether or not to give the project its "hechsher."

Consider that over two years ago, the museum received a $5-million funding commitment from the Ontario government spread over 10 years. To date, over $1 million has been transferred to the museum from their government, yet neither the museum, its fundraising arm nor the Ontario government have put out a news release to notify the media and public about the donation.

Were Carolla to design the tax system, “you should get one vote for every $10,000 you pay in taxes,” he says. “That would make it interesting.” Currently, President Obama “doesn’t give a rat’s a** about who’s rich or who’s poor,” he says. “Somebody just told him: ‘It’s pretty easy: What percentage of people voting make over $250,000 and what percentage of them make less than that?’ Well, 95 percent make under that, so guess what the theme of this speech is going to be? Not how lazy the other 95 percent are.”

“Bill Gates gets one vote, and so does my mom,” Carolla says. “It doesn’t matter how much you put in or how hard you work, you get one vote.” And your neighbor, if he makes less than you, is likely to vote someone into office who promises him your money.

A Muslim man who raped women to 'teach them a lesson' for being on the streets at night was jailed indefinitely today because of the danger he poses to women.

Sunny Islam, 23, who comes from a strict Muslim family, dragged his terrified victims - including a 15-year-old - from the street at knifepoint, bound and assaulted them during a two-month reign of terror.

This is from Steve Coll's profile of the ever-elusive Mullah Omar, the Taliban hotshot/figurehead/fearless leader. (Only the abstact is available online, so I quote from my hard copy of The New Yorker):

Obama's advisors hold differing opinions about the prospects for negotiations. Some believe that the Taliban remain committed to taking full power and will use the negotiations only to win prisoner releases and buy time. Others hope that negotiations might produce ceasefires or divide Taliban leaders. The most ambitious vision is of a settlement eventually embraced by Karzai's government, Pakistan, and NATO in which a large section of the Taliban would convert into a peaceful political party, to stand in elections, take seats in parliament, and perhaps share in a regional administration of Taliban strongholds in the south and east.

Meanwhile, still others hope that unicorns and rainbows will suddenly appear in Waziristan, and that Mullah Omar will turn into the Dalai Lama and broker a peace deal between Israel and Hamas. Which, all things considered, is about as likely a scenario as the bolded one.

In the article “Cash shortfall delays human rights museum” (Jan. 5), you note that the private sector’s fundraising goal for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights was $150 million. When the federal government first expressed interest in making the museum a Crown corporation, it entered into an agreement in 2007 with the various stakeholders, including the Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. The Friends agreed to raise $105 million toward the construction and development costs. The commitment of the Friends was to deliver a cheque for $105 million by April 1, 2011. This is what the Friends did, so in fact, we met our goal of raising $105 million. Recently, when costs increased to $310 million, the museum asked the Friends to increase their goal from $105 million to $150 million. We have been steadily working on raising this amount and have raised an additional $25 million over our original goal, which in and of itself was viewed as quite ambitious.

We will continue to seek support from the private sector so that this federal Crown corporation can open as soon as possible. Happily, our donors continue to show unwavering support and are rising to the challenge. As we have said to our supporters, no one said this would be easy, and it probably explains why this is the only new national museum established in more than 45 years. While it is definitely not for the faint of heart,the good that this museum can do definitely makes it worth the effort.

No it doesn't. Not when you consider the festering offal that "human rights" (as exemplified by the UN's Zion-loathing "human rights" council and Canada's plethora of nutty "human rights" bodies) has become in our time. Clearly, the woman's desire to see her late, beloved papa's "dream" become a reality (more than anything else, it's a national public monument in memory of him) has made her delusional.

A panel discussion of three bold ideas for civic change borrowed from other cities that could work here in Toronto. Each one is a world-class idea worth stealing related to social justice, sustainability or culture.

With [CBC] radio host and filmmaker Sook-Yin Lee; Rick Smith, a prominent Canadian author and environmentalist; and MP Olivia Chow. The event will be moderated by Royson James, Urban Affairs Columnist for the Toronto Star; and President
of Ryerson University, Sheldon Levy, will play the role of devil's advocate...

Think I'll give it a pass. Even with that old "devil" Sheldon, it sounds pretty ghastly.

Napoleon's return from Austerlitz had been triumphant. As he traversed the German states, crossing the Rhine, church bells rang as he passed beneath a long series of triumphal arches of flowers in one city after another. The people of Paris cheered even more loudly, giving balls and elegant dinners for this man who, only a few weeks earlier, had been thought to be finished, and with him his tinsel empire. As a part of these celebrations, Imperial Master of the Hunt Marshal Berthier gave hunting parties for Napoleon, including one of his Corsican favorites, a rabbit hunt. Berthier, who personally preferred stag, had gone to considerable trouble to buy approximately one thousand "hares."

On the day of the hunt all was in readiness, the rabbits in massive cages along the wooded sides of an open field, as several carriages finally appeared, Napoleon and his staff soon emerging in full hunting regalia. As Napoleon walked across the field, the signal was given to release the rabbits, and hundreds upon hundreds of black-and-white rabbits leaped forward, enjoying their new freedom. But as the intrepid hunters prepared to go in for the kill, the animals, instead of fleeing the the opposite direction, perversely turned straight for the hunters, coming at them in magnificent bounds.

At first Napoleon could not believe his eyes, nor could anyone else, laughing at the comic absurdity of the whole thing. But laughter soon gave way to perplexity, and perplexity to concern, as the hundreds of animals continued to head directly for Napoleon. Finally a bit anxious himself, he turned and ordered those around him, even the coachmen and postilions, to grab sticks and chase away the insolent animals now poking fun at the emperor's reputation as a distinguished huntsman. But all to no avail. They swarmed around Napoleon, entwining themselves between his legs, even leaping into his arms. He tried beating them off with his riding crop, but more arrived. At last his aides-de-camp and coachmen came to his rescue and got him back safely into his carriage, though it too was quickly besieged.

It had been a narrow escape! A furious Berthier, humiliated by the absurd event, learned only afterward that his men, instead of trapping hares, had purchased a thousand tame rabbits--due to be used for pâté--from farmers. And the mighty victor of Austerlitz, who had soundly defeated a combined force of 85,000 Russian and Austrian troops armed with cannon, muskets, and sabers, had now ignominiously scurried off another battlefield, pursued by a a thousand unarmed rabbits, who had mistaken him for the kindly man who was due to give them their daily feed.

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Scaramouche is my nom de Web. My real name is Mindy G. Alter, and I like to think of myself as a free speecher with a sense of humour. My bailiwick: fighting on behalf of all the good things that free speech helps safeguard, and doing my utmost to highlight the malevolence and imbicilities of those who oppose freedom, whomever they may be.